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In April 2008, the French National Assembly
passed a pioneering bill that sought to criminalize the
promotion of extreme dieting in the media.
The bill, if approved
by the French Senate (upper house), would make it illegal to
"provoke a person to seek excessive weight loss by encouraging
prolonged nutritional deprivation that would have the effect of
exposing them to risk of death or endangering health."1 Analysts
felt that the bill, if approved by the Senate, would have
far-reaching implications for websites, magazines, and the
advertising and fashion industry.
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Experts had for long been pointing out the link
between unrealistic beauty ideals (read ultra-thin image) promoted in
the media and the rise of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa2 and
bulimia3, particularly among females.
The fashion industry and the advertising industry had been at the center
of this debate for their use of skinny models. However, the debate on
the issue intensified in 2006 after the death of a Brazilian model Ana
Carolina Reston from anorexia.
Since then, several European countries had taken steps to curb the
depiction of unhealthily thin models by the fashion industry.
For
instance, Spain barred models with less than a specified body mass index
(BMI); Italy barred models under the age of 16 and also required the
models to present health certificates to prove that they were not
suffering from eating disorders; the UK required models suffering from
eating disorders to present proof that they were getting medical
attention for them to take part in London Fashion Week.4
However, the proposed crackdown in France was being viewed as the most
aggressive assault yet on the promotion of extreme thinness in Europe.
According to some analysts, there were an estimated 40,000 anorexics in
France as of early 2008. Of these, 90 percent were young girls and
women.5 Till then, France, considered the fashion capital of the world,
had done little to curb this menace.
In 2007, the authorities had agreed to a voluntary charter with the
fashion industry but had stopped short of imposing a total ban on
unhealthily thin models. In April 2008, the fashion industry in the
country signed an agreement to fight anorexia by promoting healthy body
images.
However, analysts felt that the agreement contained just a set of
guidelines and there was nothing mandatory about it.
Analysts felt that the proposed law aimed at a major crackdown on
pro-anorexia websites and publications that encouraged girls and young
women to engage in high-risk behavior to achieve the unrealistic beauty
ideals.
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1] Doreen Carvajal, "French Bill Takes Chic Out of Being too Thin," www.nytimes.com, April 16, 2007.
2] Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by voluntary starving or vomiting out food after eating in order to stay thin.
3] Bulimia is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating (uncontrollable overeating) followed by fasting, self-induced vomiting, or the use of diuretics and laxatives in order to compensate for the excessive intake of the food and to prevent weight gain.
4] Molly Moore and Corinne Gavard, "France Takes Aim at Cult of Thinness," www.washingtonpost.com, April 16, 2008.
5] "France to Crack Down on "Pro-anorexia" Websites," www.reuters.com, April 15, 2008.
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